I know I haven’t posted in a while, but something that I have recently been a part of compelled me to write this post and share this with everyone.
At the end of last year, I read a book that really changed me and gave me a very intimate view into the life of women struggling in harrowing situations. The book was “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Now I’m sure many of you who have read it will agree with me that the book is simply brilliant.
Although the plot itself is fictional, many of the situations and emotions depicted were inspired by the author’s own firsthand experience of speaking with women in Kabul when he visited the city in 2003. He stated that ‘their life stories were truly heartbreaking’, but their ‘resilience’ and ‘incredible stories of survival’ made up ‘a good part of [his] inspiration’ for the novel.
After I had finished reading the book, it took a while for me to emotionally process what I had just read. In the end I knew I had to do something, so I researched a little bit about women affected by war and ways to help them. I came across a humanitarian organisation called ‘Women for Women International’ which helps women who have survived through war. I was drawn to this particular organisation because of it’s holistic approach in the aid it provides.
Women for Women International allows sponsors to pay a monthly contribution to fund a ‘sister’ for one year as she completes a year of education in a business course. This course will equip her with the skills to start her own business upon completion. But it doesn’t stop there, throughout the year she and her family will learn about health, nutrition and and their human rights. Women will not only be skilled but also empowered to make change in their own lives and their communities too.
As the famous proverb goes, ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’.
I have added in a video from the website, explaining what the organisation offers and here is the link to the website (where the image accompanying image for this article is also from) if anyone is interested in finding out more, or even sponsoring a sister of their own : http://www.womenforwomen.org/
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, hopefully I will be able to post more frequently now too!
xx
itshercall 